Three Friday Forums on the Horizon: See you There!

FRIDAY FORUM: Update on the SR-520 Bridge Project

All eyes have been on the Viaduct but we've got another highway structure that needs replacing. Work continues to proceed on the replacing the SR 520 bridge with a new more transit friendly, tolled facility. Tolling is scheduled to return to the existing structure within the next year and construction has already begun on replacement pontoons. A special legislative workgroup is currently meeting to resolves issues that remain such as design of the West side ramps, while King County Metro is working with both the legislature and federal government on transit service and funding options.

Join us for a discussion, followed by Q&A with our panelists. As always, feel free to bring your lunch.

WHAT: SR 520 Replacement update with Daniel Babuca, Engineering Manager SR 520 Bridge Replacement and HOV Program, WSDOT and Barbara Gilliland, SR 520 Legislative Workgroup Administrator, WSDOT
WHEN: Friday, November 6, 12 - 1:30 pm
WHERE: Downtown YMCA, 909 4th Avenue, Seattle WA


SAVE THE DATE for our DOUBLE HEADER NEXT WEEK!

November 13: Transportation in Tacoma for the 21st Century
Tacoma and the South Sound face many tough decisions as we plan for the future of our transportation system. How do we extend the Tacoma Streetcar system? How do we reshape Pierce Transit's bus system? How do parking policies affect the city's to make streets more walkable? Please join us for an engaging conversation with Tacoma's transportation experts.

As always, feel free to bring your lunch.

PANEL: Lynn Griffith, Pierce Transit CEO
Eric Anderson, City Manager of Tacoma
David Hiller, Advocacy Director of the Cascade Bicycle Club
Ric Ilgenfritz, Planning Director Sound Transit
WHEN: Friday, November 13, 12 - 1:30 pm
WHERE: Simpson Room, Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber , 950 Pacific Ave, Tacoma

Take the bus to Tacoma! Sound Transit Express 594 offers frequent bus service from downtown Seattle to downtown Tacoma. Plan your trip here.

This event is co-sponsored by Transportation Choices Coalition, The City of Tacoma, The Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Tacoma Bicycle Club, Cascade Bicycle Club, Cascade Land Conservancy, and Futurewise

November 13: Transit Oriented Communities in Bellevue and Beyond - Challenges and Opportunities
With the adoption of its Bel-Red plan, the City of Bellevue has launched one of the nation's most far reaching Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) efforts. Other Eastside cities, such as Redmond and Mercer Island have substantially changed the way they plan for development and how they see their residents moving around in coming decades. But there are major impediments to how these cities and others in the region will be able to meet their TOD objectives and absorb rapidly expanding populations and workforces. Join us for a discussion of both the challenges and new opportunities of TOD on the Eastside, with the findings of new reports from Futurewise and their partners (including TCC), as well as the Quality Growth Alliance, serving as the basis for this discussion.

As always, feel free to bring your lunch.

WHAT: Transit Oriented Communities in Bellevue and Beyond with Sara Nikolic, Futurewise, presenting Transit Oriented Communities: A Blueprint for Washington State
A representative from the Quality Growth Alliance, presenting their new report, TOD and Urban Centers, From Barriers to Solutions and Best Practices
WHEN: Friday, November 13, 12 - 1:30 pm
WHERE: Room 1e-108 Bellevue City Hall 450 110th Ave. NE, Bellevue

Take the bus to Bellevue! Sound Transit Express 550 offers frequent bus service from downtown Seattle to the Bellevue Transit Center, less than a block away from City Hall. Plan your trip here.

Thank you to our sponsors of the Friday Forum Series
PLATINUM
Vulcan Inc.

GOLD
CH2M Hill
The Boeing Company
HDR Inc.

SILVER
Jacobs and Associates | IBI Group | HNTB Corporation | Parsons Brinckerhoff
Wilbur Smith Associates | Bricklin Newman Dold

Walkscore and Transit

Sightline reports that the website Walkscore has incorporated transit into their walkability score. Walkscore is a popular website being used by realtors and individuals alike that allows you to put in your home address have find out its walkability based upon its proximity to schools, stores, entertainment, nightlife, and now transit.

Walkscore uses transit data via google transit so it only works for systems that have inputted their data into google transit. Locally Metro and Island Transit have made their data available to google transit but Pierce, Community Transit, and Sound Transit (other than buses run by metro) are not yet. Having tools like Google transit and one bus away that make using transit easier are crucial components to attracting choice riders. Recently when I was visiting family in NYC I was able to use Google transit on my blackberry and cruise the city via subway or bus seamlessly. Walk score has set up a petition that allows you to ask your local agency to release their data to Google transit. I just filled it out, you should too.

http://www.walkscore.com/transit-feed.shtml

A Conversation with the Bellingham Herald

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to sit down over coffee with Jared Paben, who is the transportation reporter at the Bellingham Herald. He is a bright guy who understands the intigrated aspects of our region's transportation system.

Today he put up a overview of our conversation on his traffic blog. Check it out here.

Transportation Choices Coalition: State needs to step up and help pay for transit service

I sat down a while back with Andrew Austin, who works at the group Transportation Choices Coalition, and learned a little about what the group is planning with regard to its legislative agenda.

First, the group would like to push the legislature to allow a voter-approved local option for funding transit. The problem, he said, is that even if Whatcom Transportation Authority and Pierce Transit, as examples, wanted to take all of the sales tax they legally can (up to nine-tenths of 1 percent of the sales tax) it would simply stave off cuts, not make the agencies economically sustainable.

“In the next few months we need to find a long-term sustainable funding source for … agencies to go to,” he said. “As we’re poising ourselves to recover from this recession, we need to be poising to grow our transit service, not shrink it.”

As many of you have heard, WTA is joining the ranks of other agencies looking at service cuts. Next year, it’s looking at possibly cutting 25 full-time positions, which means service cuts, including the loss of all Sunday service. It’s because sales tax revenues have taken a dive.

He think a motor-vehicle excise tax seems the most workable option. Currently, voters in an area like Whatcom County can’t vote to increase a motor vehicle excise tax to pay for transit service, but the legislature could change that.

Under the state Constitution, gas tax revenues that right now go to pay for highway projects can’t pay for transit service. Austin said they’d like to see a sales tax on gasoline that could pay for transit.

The legislature commissioned a report that will be delivered back to the legislature’s joint transportation committee, and the report will say which taxes might be palatable to the public (and thus our elected officials).

He blasted the legislature for its lack of interest in supporting transit, while the public, meanwhile, clamors for options other than driving alone, he said. The state doesn’t support transit like it should, he said.

“There’s not very many transit champions in the legislature,” he said.

I asked him about the bus service between Bellingham and Mount Vernon that I remembered was paid with state funds. That’s the only place where the state gives direct funding to transit service (not counting capital purchases), he said, adding that it’s $300,000 a year.

“That should be a model for the rest of the state,” he said.

The state does have four programs, called flexible account, with some funding that do the following: 1. Helps pay for Amtrak service. 2. Pay for Safe Routes to Schools projects 3. Commute trip reduction programs for large businesses, 4. Grant programs for transit capital spending.

The legislature “sucked” money from those program and put it into the roads account, he said.

In the short run, we need to work to fill those accounts again, Austin said, but in the next two to five years we need to find new revenues for highways and transit.

Anyway, this is just a summary of some notes I jotted while sitting down with Austin at The Bagelry a couple of Fridays ago.

What do you think about his ideas? What are you ideas for state transit (and highways, for that matter) spending?

Also, click here to see more on the state’s funding for transportation.

Bill LaBorde V. Senator Ken Jacobsen: Progressive Battle Royale?

Our very own Bill LaBorde will be debating Senator Ken Jacobsen about the initiative process tomorrow at noon in the Vance building. Should be an informative and entertaining way to spend lunch. See you there?

Lunchbox* Debates The Budget & Policy Center is hosting a series of lunch-time debates that will provide an opportunity to learn more about current progressive issues and engage in a lively discussion with other community leaders.

Debate Topic: What to do with the Initiative Process? Featuring debaters State Senator Ken Jacobsen and Bill LaBorde of the Transportation Choices Coalition. Would it be better to use the initiative process to advance a progressive agenda or to get rid of it all together? That is the question that State Senator Ken Jacobsen (D-46th) and Bill LaBorde, State Policy Director of the Transportation Choices Coalition will tackle in what should be a very timely Lunchbox Debate.

Take a break from your busy day to be part of this important discussion:

When: Wednesday, October 28th, Noon - 1 pm

Where: The Vance Building, 1402 Third Ave, Room 530

Please RSVP to Ben Secord at bens@budgetandpolicy.org

It will be a casual, friendly and internal event. The opinions and perspectives expressed do not necessarily represent the organization or individuals, as we may ask people to take a more extreme position to help us better understand a particular perspective.

* Sorry no lunchboxes provided, we just thought this title sounded good. It's BYOL!

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Blueprint for Transit-Oriented Communities Launch is TONIGHT!

Please join Futurewise and TCC for the official launch of the Transit Oriented Communities Blueprint.

We will be at Pike Place Brewing from 4-6pm tonight for the official launch of this exciting document followed by a gallery of photos transit oriented communities that is being hosted at GGLO.

Please join us!

For more information see Futurewise's website.

Some more coverage from Huge Ass City.

Cascade Bike Club and Tacoma Wheelman host a Tacoma Bike In Tomorrow!

What can you do to improve bicycling in Tacoma, Pierce County and throughout Washington? Join Cascade Bicycle Club, the Tacoma Wheelmen and Tacoma stakeholders this Saturday, Oct. 17 for a workshop on bike advocacy and a bike ride, with drinks to follow.
Schedule:
10am - 1pm: Workshop and lunch at the Tacoma Downtown Library, 1102 Tacoma Avenue South

1pm - 3pm: Bike tour of Tacoma with bicycle planners and special guests, including City Councilmember Lauren Walker

3pm - eve.: Meet at the Harmon HUB for drinks with Councilmember Jake Fey

Email Chris.Rule@cascadebicycleclub.org to RSVP!

We'd like to make sure there are enough snacks and coffee for everyone. It's a busy weekend, so feel free to stop in for only part of the day! Please let us know if you will be joining us for the workshop, ride, and/or at the HUB.

We'll discuss how we can use our clout to demand better facilities and just laws for bicyclists.

Also, the outcome of the bicycle and pedestrian count, and how the data we collect on bicycling is crucial to our safety as bicyclists.
Together, we'll strategize on making a difference in Tacoma and working together for better state laws and funding sources for lanes and trails.

Blueprint for Transit-Oriented Communities

Join Futurewise, GGLO, Transportation Choices Coalition and AIA Seattle for the launch of "Transit-Oriented Communities: A Blueprint for Washington State" - a report, exhibit, and outreach effort to encourage more planning and funding for vibrant and sustainable neighborhoods near transit throughout Washington State.

Happy Hour at Pike Brewing Company at Pike Place Market
4:00 - 6:00 PM
Come hear a brief program about the report and discuss future policy initiatives!

then...

Gallery Opening Reception at the Design Gallery at AIA Seattle
1911 First Avenue
6:00 - 8:00 PM
View the Blueprint for Transit-Oriented Communities exhibit, on display through January 8th.

Events are free. Donations are welcome.

Time: October 27, 2009 from 4pm to 8pm
Location: Pike Brewing Company at Pike Place Market, then AIA Seattle at 1911 First Avenue
Organized By: Sara Nikolic

Please RSVP here or email lori@futurewise.org.